These fundamental American desserts were once made daily in many households, and no wonder: They combine common ingredients with easily mastered techniques for often dramatic and always satisfying results.
All have some form of crust, a universally loved treat that almost always depends on a fair amount of fat-usually butter-to make it light, flaky, and delicious. What distinguishes pies and tarts from cobblers and crisps is the composition of the crust, how it is formed, and whether it’s on the top or bottom.
Though the technique for making pie and tart crusts must be learned, it is literally child’s play. If you can roll out a Play-Doh pie, you can make a real one. If you don’t feel up to the challenge, start with cobblers and crisps and work your way up.
Though dedicated pie makers do get better and better at producing flaky, flavorful, nicely shaped, and beautifully colored crusts, it need not take years of trial and error to get the technique tight; in fact, you can make good crusts for pies, tarts, cheesecakes, crisps, and more your first time out, and quickly.
There are so few ingredients in the basic crust that good quality is absolutely vital for each one. The best crusts start with butter, although there are people who use a high percentage of shortening (I don’t). Lard and butter, as it happens, complement each other well in crusts, but I usually use all butter: It gives the crust a rich, delicious flavor and good color (good lard and, admittedly, shortening do help with texture, but the former is sadly hard to find, and the latter-health issues aside- has a negative impact on flavor).
Technique and flour turn that butter into something magical. It isn’t difficult; I routinely use my food processor to mix the dough for pie crusts, and I recommend you do too-it’s quick, easy, efficient, and nearly foolproof.
You can mix the dough by hand, of course, pinching the butter with flour between your fingers or using various utensils like a pastry blender or two forks. However you do it, the idea is to get small bits of butter coated in flour, which will make for a flaky and light crust.
When the dough is formed you will be able to see bits of butter in it; this is a good thing-don’t think it needs to be mixed more. In fact, the dough for pies and tarts should be handled minimally, because you don’t want the gluten to develop as it does in bread dough; in these crusts you want tenderness, not chew.
Once you make a dough, let it rest in the refrigerator or freezer so the gluten relaxes. This also hardens the butter a bit, which makes rolling easier. Equally important, it helps the crust hold its shape in baking and form a flaky crust. Once the dough is frozen, it can be stored in the freezer for weeks or even months (be sure to wrap it well to prevent freezer burn).
Rolling the Dough
Transforming dough from a ball or disk to a fairly uniform round crust, less than 1/4 inch thick, involves a combination of patience and practice. Ideally you’ll roll the dough out only once, because rerolling will toughen it. At first, though, you may need more than one try. Although rolling tart dough makes a more even and flat crust, it can just be pressed into the pan.
These tips that will make rolling dough easier:
• Start with dough that is firm and slightly chilled but not hard or frozen. It should yield a bit to pressure, but your fingers shouldn’t sink in (if they do, refrigerate or freeze for a while longer).
• Flour the work surface and the top of the dough to prevent sticking to the counter and the rolling pin. Beginners should use flour liberally; as you get the hang of it, you’ll use less and less flour. Alternatively, put the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, parchment, or wax paper and roll it in there; as long as the dough is not too sticky, this will work just fine.
• Roll from the middle of the disk outward, rotating the rolling pin and the dough to make sure it’s evenly rolled. Apply even and firm but gentle pressure to the rolling pin.
• Fix any holes with pieces that break off at the edges; add a dab of water to help seal your patches in place. Don’t try to pinch the hole closed.
• If the dough becomes sticky, slide it onto a baking sheet and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.
• When the dough is rolled out, move it to the pie plate or tart pan by draping it over the rolling pin and moving it into the plate; or transfer it by picking up your plastic wrap, removing one side, laying it in place, then removing the other side.
• Press the dough firmly into the plate all over. Refrigerate for about an hour before filling (if you’re in a hurry, freeze for a half hour or so).
Once the dough is in the pan, you can trim it and make the edge more attractive. Tarts typically have a simple edge; just use a knife to cut away the excess dough. Fluted tart pans make a pretty, ruffled-looking edge without any extra work on your part.
Piecrusts, on the other hand, have more elaborate edges. Different pie makers prefer different techniques, some more complicated than others.
Baking the Crust
There’s not much mystery behind baking crust. There are a couple ways to go about it: either baking the whole pie, filling and all, or prebaking (”blind baking”) the crust alone first. Though it adds a step, in many if not most cases prebaking the crust gives better results.
When you’re baking a filled pie, always put it on a cookie sheet; it encourages bottom browning and prevents spillovers from cooking onto your oven floor. If your crust edges start to get too dark, loosely wrap a ring of foil around them.
Tags: Baking the Crust Pie, desserts, pie dough, pies, tarts